Predictable goals of dental implantology; an inside story

Sir,

The ultimate goal of modern dentistry is to restore the stomatognathic system to normal function, comfort, esthetics, speech and health regardless of the atrophy, disease or injury. However, the more the number of teeth is missing in a patient, the more difficult this goal becomes with traditional dentistry. As a result of continued research in dental implant designs, materials and techniques, predictable success is now a reality for the rehabilitation of many challenging clinical situations.^[1,2] Continued high rate of success achieved with osseointegrated dental implants is the appropriate result of changes in traditional diagnosis and treatment planning of prosthetic restorations. This situation is contrasted to the usual approach of matching an implant design to a biologic condition to achieve an acceptable level of tolerance.^[3]

The procedures of patient selection, diagnosis, treatment planning, implant selection, surgical placement, and prosthetic management are intellectually and technically demanding. Meticulous attention to the finest details is required to achieve the level of success that has been documented in literature.